Hawes Firearms Co. weapons

Hawes Firearms Co. weapons are firearms produced by the Hawes firearms company between the 1950s and late 1960s/early 1970s.

Background and Description

The Hawes Firearm Company were a major American importer of European firearms during the 1950s and 1960s. Hawes were the first importer of JP Sauer & Sohn firearms into America. JP Sauer & Sohn are the oldest firearms manufacturer still active in Germany.

Hawes contracted with manufacturer JP Sauer & Sohn, Germany, to produce a series of single action guns in several calibers known as the Marshall series. These were mid range quality firearms made cheaply in Germany while the German market was undervalued, and sold on to Americans under an American brand.

They also contracted with Italian manufacturer Galisi to import small .25 semi automatics. They are likely to have imported guns from several other European manufacturers and sold them under the Hawes name to the American market.

Hawes revolvers did not have a hammer block, and therefore often fired unintentionally if the chamber beneath the hammer was loaded and the hammer suffered an impact. They were sued for this lack of a safety feature many times, and stopped importing firearms into America as a result.

Collecting Hawes Firearms Co. weapons

These guns are quite rare and hard to find. They will mostly be available through second hand stores and trading forums. They are not antiques and therefore not as valuable or sought after as some firearms.

The Marshall series came in several designs, such as the Western, the Texas, Montana, Silver City, among others. This was sparked by a popularity of cowboy style guns following a spate of spaghetti western movies. Hawes guns were in fact used in many of the 1950s-70s cowboy western movies, as they were cheaper to acquire than Colts.